LET US BEGIN TO " BE THE CHILDREN OF GOD"

Many brand new years come and go and we are flooded with wishes and we wish people on Jan 1st be happy having fun and at the end of the day its over. Jan 2nd is just another day and the spirits are gone. Real Happiness lies within and is in every single day. Every day is  Gods gift. What do we do with the gift? Many times we do not realize the value of it, simply waste in random thoughts and actions. We have been blessed by God for he has made us to be born as HUMAN BEING.

 Living things be in  earth, live ( as long as they can breathe) and die. They are not remembered. They   do not have the choice of improving themselves. 

Its only human being who has got the faculty of knowledge, understanding, introspecting, unlike in any other living things( animals and plants, etc). Its our choice to live a life of mere living thing or a human being ,utilize this best opportunity and live the life to heart's content.

We are busy chasing to achieve the things of the world. Hardly we understand ourselves who we actually are.

" Let us  make  this new year an unforgettable milestone and  a stepping stone for our successful life".

On this New Year Day, Let us pledge ourselves to BE BETTER , eradicate negativity from ourselves, BE CHILDREN OF GOD, listening to him , having unshakable faith in him, FOR HE IS OUR CREATOR.

1)Lamentations 3:22-23

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassion never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

- We commit innumerable mistakes in lifetime, we have to reap the deeds of the sins, our mind is deprived of peace and happiness.Even we are deprived, God who is seated in heart, is ever forgiving, hes faithful to ppl who listen to him, who has hope in him,his love will not fail us.

In an unimaginable way God will shower his blessings to his people, He loves his people and sends his men to set his children on the path or the way he wants us to walk..

2)Ephesians 4:22-24

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;  to be made new in the attitude of your minds;  and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

- Because of darkness, no understanding, we lose our way, indulge in all the impure acts and get corrupted.When we listen to the lord, our self gets alive with sensitivity,knowledge, light, love and all that is godly.

Having understood God's way, we must follow that with our new attitudes in mind, BE the self, that is created under gods image of righteousness.

Old Self is the mind ruled by evil thoughts, enemy of heart, controlled by demons, 

New Self is the mind united with heart, becoming one, controlled by the heart where God is seated.

3)Romans 8:18:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

- When we are controlled by demonic mind, we are dead. When we are controlled by our heart , we are alive. Demonic mind is hostile to God and it never submits itself to Gods laws.when we constantly fight with our demonic mind and keep on walking on the path of lord, we will be revealed his glory. With that hope, 

whatever we suffer today, we must be on the path of the lord, and he will reveal his glory. 

Most of the people out of ignorance think their present sufferings are real.but when we follow the path, on the way the truth will be revealed to us. The sufferings are not worthy to even think in front of gods glory.

Every human being has a purpose, we must try to find it and when we are with lord word,his grace reveals to us our purpose.

Its never too late to begin, lets begin to walk on the path of the lord for he will welcome us with his arms open. 

"WISHING A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015"

Serving- 2

For all the significant changes in personality  and to  reflect in living life, one must gain the momentum to keep it going. Mere knowing/reading/feeling cannot bring in the changes, unless and until its applied and acknowledged in our day to day living. Newly planned actions performed a day or two would bring mere illusory satisfaction of DOING. To achieve the real satisfaction within  and to transform , we must focus on BEING. Any new action to make a habit , it must be done every day consistently, consciously, building " momentum", after which at some point of time that momentum itself will take care of the habit. 

As one of Mr.Robin Sharma's quotes reads, "All change is hard at first , messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end" .

As there are a few more days left in this year 2014,  was  reflecting in mind "what has changed in life? what is a new thing that  have been made into  a habit? One more good year I was blessed with, what did I do with it? I have no solid answers. Why newly formed actions get stopped in the middle?Its the lack of momentum.  Its easy to begin with motivation, being inspired, but to keep continuing without external motivation, it needs momentum built with strong conviction and will power.

Even after drifting, one more time, I am going to BEGIN CREATING THE NEW PATTERNS, try to PUT IT IN ACTION EVERYDAY and CREATE A MOMENTUM TO KEEP IT GOING.

Whats cooking - Pulihora/Tamarind Rice

Pulihora is all time favorite and occasions special variety rice. Its prepared in  different styles, Andhra, Tn ( specially called perumal kovil puliyodarai( tamarind rice made in vishnu temple)). Here I am sharing the recipe. 

Ingredients for the powder:

1)  Coriander seeds    -  1.5 tbsp
2)  Jeera                       -  1tsp
3)  Urad dal                  -  1tbsp
4)  Channa dal             - 1tbsp
5)  Seasame seeds      - 1tsp
6)  Red chillies             - 5-6
7)  Fenugreek seeds    - 1/2 tsp

For Pulikaichal:( Puli - Tamarind , Kaichal - thickened/thickening )

1) Tamarind                                -   Lemon sized ball
2) Channa dal                             -  1tsp
3) Red chillies                            -   2
4) Peanuts                                  -  1/4 cup
5) Cashews                                 -  say 10(optional)
6) Turmeric powder                   - 1/4 tsp
7) Hing                                        -  2-3 pinches
8) Curry leaves                            - a sprig
9) Seasame oil ( thts the flavor) - 5-6 tbsp.
10) Mustard seeds                      - 1/2 tsp
11) Salt                                        -  as needed
12) Jaggery                                 -  1tsp( powdered)
 ** Raw Rice                                -  700-800 gms.

Making of Pulikaichal:

1) Spice Powder:

Dry roast the ingredients mentioned above for powder separately till we get nice aroma and grind them together after its cooled down. The powder  can be stored .Sometimes we can add curry leaves ( two sprigs) so its ground and its not seen in rice. It gives nice flavor. 

2) Pulikaichal:

1)  Take  a heavy bottom pan. Add oil , add mustard seeds, after that splutters, add jeera, channa dal, ( if u want u can add peanuts now itself or at the end along with cashews). fry them once they change to golden brown, add red chillies that's broken in to halves.

2)  Add hing, curry leaves, now add the tamarind extract,bring it to boil, add turmeric powder, fenugreek powder(if u dont use that spice powder). if you use powder add it now n bring it to boil until it thickens, raw flavor leaves, the oil comes up , separating from mixture. add salt and jaggery, mix it well.add the dry roasted cashews at the end. the paste is ready.

This is the paste. pulikaichal we call. we can mix it in the rice that is cooked separately. 

Behind the Scene:

If needed we can add a few drops of sesame oil n sprinkle a little powder on the top that gives nice flavor.
we can store the paste for couple of days..n . Yum yum pulihora is ready.
The above measurement gives around 10 tbsp of the mix( i have made it so dry, we can make it a little loose ..like a thick chutney.) it would yield a little more. Around 700-800 gms of rice ,with this measurement we can make..

Behind the scene:

We can use curd chillies( more milagai) which gives a different taste and the chillies can be consumed too.

Every thing teaches us something, when we observe , we can learn or sometimes it just happens right infront of us. This pulihora along with serving the taste buds, has served a greater purpose and has taught and shown deeper things which are memorable..

Along with food for stomach, tiny bites for mind, a few quotes to practise.....in life.

Serving - 1

Serving in general, means an act of serving or portion of food.  This section is titled "Serving" as it does both. It is food for mind/thoughts and it serves us to make ourselves better and live life in a better way. Just like we consume healthy food for body to be healthy, it is mandatory to cultivate and nurture healthy thoughts for mind to be healthy.

Here are a few powerful words put together, of Robin Sharma  that leaves enormous impact on minds to probe ourselves and design a new way of living life.

1) Protect your FOCUS and just CONCENTRATE " monomaniacally" on purely what matters.

2) Nothing works unless YOU do the work.

3) Become an ENCOURAGEr of potential versus a destroyer of CONFIDENCE.

4) The way you BEGIN day defines how you will LIVE each day.

5) The 5 deadly TOXINS : Complaining, Criticizing, Gossiping, Worrying, Procrastinating.

6) Dream BIG, START Small, Act NOW.

7) All great work requires DAILY practice and ENDLESS patience.

8) Change your private story about your POTENTIAL and your BEHAVIOR changes by itself.

9)The more time you spend in your discomfort zone, the more your comfort zone will EXPAND.

10)The condition of your MISSION is determined by the quality of your decisions.


Things, when we read, when we see or hear, sound good and nice, but just forgotten after a while. They hardly are connected to and understood, without which there is no change within at any level.

Words may be of anyone's but the value and depth of words is nurtured, instilled by a source,we are connected to.

A Teacher..

Today I take an opportunity to express some thoughts about teacher, who most of us have in our lives, who   have made an impact in our lives, touching our hearts.

A teacher is one who " teaches". The insight of the word "teach" is listed below, sourced from web.

We often do not get the depth or real meaning of every word that we use. "Teach" brings in many thoughts and ideas in our mind. Mostly it is correlated with preach. Teaching is different to that of preaching.

"A teacher is not a preacher" .

Teach means:

a :  to cause to know something 

b :  to cause to know how 

c :  to accustom to some action or attitude 

d :  to cause to know the disagreeable consequences of some action <I'll teach you to come home late>

2

:  to guide the studies of

3

:  to impart the knowledge of 

4

a :  to instruct by precept, example, or experience

b :  to make known and accepted 

5

:  to conduct instruction regularly in 

A Teacher :

1) Teaches the kids, not the subject alone but he teaches how to learn, he is a guide.

2) Knows every kid's capability of understanding.

3) Makes kids comfortable, reassures, yet make them aware of their mistakes.

4) Evaluates not papers, but the kids minds, through which they express.

5) Establishes connection with the kids.

6) Helps kids to earn good reputation for themselves in society, not to earn good names for the teachers        themselves.

7) Do not brand or judge kids with their scores.

8) Who brings out the unique hidden strengths out of the kids.

9) Who shows the way to fight out the negative, gives strength and hope.

10) He never gives up, finds way to reach and teach kids.

11)Who lays the foundation of being a human being.

12)Never feels  proud about himself ,always appreciates the efforts taken by the kids.

13)Always stays with kids in every walk of life, sharing and guiding.

14) Is family member, always connected.

15) Who REJOICES quietly when kids come out with flying colors as shining stars.

Let me  halt here. Blessed is the kid who has got an opportunity to be with such a teacher, gotten opportunity to have his touch in life, would they forget the teacher?NO ,even after 20 years? NO. Such a teacher will still and always be an inspiration, motivation. The kid would always appreciate efforts of teacher, when its realised.

Teachers Appreciation reminded me of my teacher. This is for my teacher.

Excerpts from Student Of Life - 02 - Life is an investment

World is beautiful. People see the world with their experiences. Experiences may be bad but not the world. World is as it is. We must stop blaming others. First accept our self, whatever we are- good , bad , ugly. All is ours.

People want to see things on their own. What does it mean? We don't trust anyone!

Why don't we trust others? What makes us think others are decepting?

Why we are not able to believe? Is it not that we have notions? We have wounds, hurt as references, which are blocking us. What makes us derive to this conclusion that all others are bad.

 We have  approved ourselves to stick to this one point formula.

"I will believe with my own knowledge, I wont approve, I DON'T accept".

If that is right, then WHY cant we stay by ourselves?

Why do we roam so much, Why we are unable to finalise by ourselves? why we seek new things all the time? Why we remain dissatisfied? DO WE ACCEPT OUR SELF?

We are rejecting everything, then what is right? so the whole world is wrong? seriously wrong?

how much negativity it is!!.

 

Why things come to us, its because of HIM, ALL THE TIMES. WE or I doesn't exist in reality.

But all the times we boast of ourselves as if we are dissatisfied.

Who is dissatisfied? Who wanna accept or reject?

Who is there other than mind or its recordings of previous experiences? or the collection of such experiences? It is called EGO.

Its like a memorial standing erect always in between two people, between world and US.

When both are memorials, standing up right , why would they meet?

Both can be like " I know better than you".

So there is no relationship, no manners, no etiquette, no bond, no love, no humility, no compassion , no sensitivity towards others' feelings or theirs, which also consists of emotions.

Its HEART which can reach beyond mind.

When we talk with heart, without bias, without selfish hidden agendas, without seeking anything or without any expectations, we just be there with them , Why would that language not reach?

It may reach to mind. If it reaches to mind, it will start judging, show doubts, seeing the person who was different before and now doing something different, it gets suspicious, doubts, expectations, greed, sabotage, deceit,cleverness, all comes in to picture. Heart can reach heart in flip second, NOTHING it seeks IN RETURN, yet we feel FULFILLED.

That is love. That is loving.

 

Such things where do we find. We find at sant ashram( Buddha, sant ashram, maharishi, saint)

He only directs us properly. Some rishi mahatma only can show mercy and let us to see the way.

How to see things, how to behave, what to expect, what not to expect, where to show individuality, where not to, what is responsibility, a duty is, what is not , what is lord, what is not, what is good, what is bad, how to live in this world, how we should be confined to ourselves

why we should not boast ourselves, why we show openly our love towards lord, not the earthly things.

If you show your diamond necklace in a party, what would be the result?

If you sing bhajan in a temple, what would be the result?

Both the things you show. yet both are showing. But both the results would be severely different.

Saint would be telling good and bad at all the times, also show learning in that also.

Physical pleasures is only just enjoying senses and reap Karma phalam, which is due in next birth or who knows this birth if we repeatedly do the same things, OUR POT OF SIN would be full and it would break now only in this birth. If some one reach saint and they revert the mind pattern, learn the mistakes, vow not to repeat it, then the pot of sin would not be filled.

whatever was there it would be at bottom. On top of that goodness would fill .

So whatever be there, it would be little and would be in next birth and if there is mercy of lord, who knows the small karma phalam would get burned and nothing left .

If he is pleased by the devotion, so next birth would be spotless.

 

So where would we learn such things - from a renunciated person only.

He only could  let us know how to be humble, how to be compassionate, how to be sensitive to others feelings. Yes, others are not. But we are knowing that they are not knowing. Hence who should be humble? - the person who is knowing. Then he have ability. People say he can resist, he got strength, he got something, he is tough inside. If we reciprocate like them, its like dog fight in streets. We are not animals.We are humans. Yes, we should reciprocate IN LOVE, IN GOODNESS, IN POSITIVITY, IN CREATIVITY, IN HARMONY, IN HELPING OTHERS. We all are bonded.

But whatever we can help others, we can do. ( Like in swaraga, naraka story - where people feed others with their hands tied). But we can feed to those WHO KNOWS that their hands are tied, who has awareness, or in a way we can say - a practitioner.

 

Its not for in general. If we feed them, they will run away. We would wonder, " I am feeding you, I am giving goodness, why are u so lethargic, why are u so lazy, you are busy is it?".

In return what would they say?. " I am tired, I have no time and all the notions about the person who is feeding pops up" . I need to see my things I better understand. My things, my way, my , mine, I , me . We accumulate so much . Its a big reservoir, that we think we are. But that is nothing , no use. It has limited use, to accumulate possession.

Accumulating possession also is by cheating others. When we observe during accumulating, we have to hurt someone to possess that. There is nothing that we can accumulate or possess which is without hurts, without cheating, without deceit, lies. All things which are our possession are laid on this foundation and we think these things would benefit us. People say its for our kids and those kids get education from that money which is been accumulated in that way. In return parents get kicks and they wonder. Could not know the basic subtle foundation. We think we are saving pies. If its hurting others, if its snatched from others, wrongly earned, duping others, or not from hard work, from sweat,

how could we think that will benefit us?

How goodness could come out of it?

Why it will give fruits of wisdom? when we sow seeds of suffering.

What we sow , so we reap.

All sorts of accumulation including goodness is also waste.

All leads to attachment and attachment is death.

Then how are we going to survive these demonic minds that will kill us for nothing?.

Hence sant says - "Middle Way".

Don't be too good nor too bad. Accumulate for your needs.

Accumulate from your hard work. No short cuts, no gambling, no wasting in wine, luxuries.

Accumulate to raise children, for your old age and continuation of goodness.

PASS IT ON TO THEM , HOW YOU DEFEATED BETAAL( NEGATIVE FORCES) AND BECAME VIKRAM( POSITIVE FORCES/POSITIVITY).

They also have to face betaal in this world. Its in the mind, mind voices.

Who can say about it- The one who conquered can say it.

or the one who in process can say theory and give example of the one who did it.

At any cost GOODNESS MUST PREVAIL.

At least in next birth we would be born spotless.

Life is an investment, says mentorji.  "Jeevan ka lakshya mukthi nahi , nivesh hai!"

Life is not a salvation to be saved out of the world, but it is an investment to be used in the world.

 

Live controlled, relaxed life , no matter how fast the pace may be.

Excerpts from Student Of Life -01- Mind Training.

"Life is all about learning. Life is beautiful, when we realise it". 

One must KNOW first, TO SEE, TO UNDERSTAND, TO EXPERIENCE, TO REALISE. 

We all behave according to our Mind. Mind suggests based on our perceptions, beliefs, past experiences, illusions, ideas. To SEE reality, one must remove the goggles( perceptions, illusions, etc).

Mind is a great tool , which can be our friend or an enemy,  based on the training given to it.

Below is the excerpt from Student of life. We may all get a query, " Who is Student of life? ".

Just like a medical student, who learns medicine, just like an engineering student, who acquires the knowledge of engineering, in chosen stream, just like all other students, " A STUDENT OF LIFE  LEARNS LIFE and THERE IS NO PARTICULAR PERIOD THAT HE COMPLETES HIS COURSE, HE KEEPS ON LEARNING TILL THE END OF LIFE AND LIFE, IT HAS NO END. From  every experience he learns, he acquires knowledge, he understands reality. He realises what is real and what is not.

In this , its been discussed about Mind Training.

Talking about being non organised, lazy, he said, " Its not about memory thing, its about training given to our mind". That it is okay to be lazy or non organised, its our own suggestion. If nobody reminds us, it will continue. Possibly 2 things can happen. One, somebody will do and scold us for not doing or two we counter them back with their mistakes that they have done,  for reminding us, for pointing our mistakes, so that its so strong, they will never remind us again. Both the things are dangerous, there is no learning.

We do not know the fault and where it is, its not the issue of fixing. We are suggesting mind that its okay,we still can manage. So we learn to manage people and not the issue, NOT FIXING the issue.

Managing is different and fixing is different, not knowing the issue.  It is not managing the issue, its managing people. This applies everywhere in our life.Its always I feel, I feel, kind of, wrongly trained mind, unable to see the truth. We should balance our mind , should feel as well as move with facts. Ultimately, its mind,  not heart. Soul or heart is different from mind.

For survival, we need logic, analytics, food. Food comes from work, work comes from logical understanding. All needs to deal with others, say from labour to ruler. All needs to deal with people.

We are social beings, not stand alone entity, we are interdependent. So we need to learn people skills, how to talk, how to communicate by understanding others.  All are not alike, only a few are. We need to live with those whom we don't love, feel or connect. We are dependent for external things.

We are not for internal things, for internal growth or for shedding blocks. We are not dependent on external things for internal peace. We should not be affected by external environment. We should be affected only by internal mind, which is continuously talking to us, judging based on past feelings. It seeks those. We are affected by that  and seek those outside , external. How can we? We need to find it, if we wanna match it, this is me, so we wanna find like me. Then we will become happy, but soon you will find , neither we or they are the same, because mind never stays alike . It gets bored by monotonous things. It needs entertainment always.

 That's why saints have developed different methods to cool off. Developed ability to stay away, stay in pure form of mind without prejudices.

*Then we get strength , full strength, the power , confidence comes within.

*We don't need anyone advice also, we can spot egos, we can spot gestures.

*We can understand who are the cheaters, we are like awake.

*Even if we don't know , we could know whom should we ask, where to find, its not that whom we feel we ask them .

*We go and ask appropriate person, that means, we know who is appropriate.

 So that type of mind only comes when we know what is peace or when we identify yes this is the state called non indulging mind. Now we are indulgent. We are seeing through indriyas we are seeing through perceptions. We are not seeing as it is. When we are not biased, then only we can see it.

When we talk to some one , we stay away, we observe them like a picture. So we can see their eyes, their gestures, hand movements, the way they sit, the way they use words, we don't become impulsive.

We should not be making comments. We should be observant, then only we know how they are. We are non attached. The state of being Non attached is called Sanyasi. He don't go to jungle. He don't indulge in to what others are doing with mind.  He stays calm, non attached in to his being. It does not mean he becomes insensitive, in fact he would become compassionate, he does things for the needful, he can know who is needy, because he can know it , he can see it what is happening, others cannot as they are indulged, they judge it .

That is mind training.

All should be Sanyasi so that

*We can love people,  we can understand people.

* We can live peaceful as we can give space to all, because we are non indulgent.

* We don't accumulate more than we need.

*We don't speak bad words to hurt. We are considerate to the needy and help.

* We can stay positive, because faith increases 1000 times.

So all those things happen when we could know that we are not dependent on mind for our survival.

There is life beyond mind also. There is heart. Mind is only an operator. Its interface for heart. 

It has virus in it. What to, what not to , it doesn't understand. So when it is virus free, it speaks heart's language. So its same as heart. Then it reaches others.

People say "Wow, it reaches, I can understand you, ONLY YOU, it reaches me" .

It comes with practice, not just like that. It needs lots of practice .

What is that practice?

- It is non indulgence, non reactive, having faith inside, of course with the touch of lord.

What do you choose? - Love or Fear!

Man's power of choice enables him to think like an angel or a devil, a king or a slave, whatever he chooses, mind will create and manifest.

- Frederick Bailes 

Every incident gives us experiences, which serves as learning. We all have positivity and negativity within us. It depends on us to choose what we let to dominate or manifest, defining us.Love(the positive, brighter side) and fear(the negative, darker side) both reside in the same person and their natures are so different. Love always tries to make things better and better till it is at its best. Fear always tries to find ways to block or escape.To enjoy better results, all it requires is to amend our choices, that we make. Does it really matter what do we choose? I think yes.

Here is one such experience which supports the view.

Sometime back, I was shared a very beautiful, meaningful song(which I understand now, by then it was a nice song with great beats), " I CHOOSE LOVE" - by Shawn Gallaway. With the trust and love I was showered with, I could dare to attempt singing the song. It was Love, that made it comfortable and overcome  fears.

Below is the conversation between both, love and fear, in a situation, where Love Bird asks Fear Bird to sing the same song and to make it better, it gives Audacity, a s/w. I have expressed their natures in a form of a story, with two characters, love bird and fear bird( love and fear, themselves),where finally FEAR IS DEFEATED BY LOVE.

All the italics, inside the brackets are mind voices(the thoughts that pops up in the mind), the quotes are the dialogues between love and fear, the statements are the narration.
                                                   
Love Bird:" Hey u can make it better, I will let you know a software, Audacity. You can do better things with that." said in  its high spirits.
Fear Bird:(What?? Audacity? Oh no , technology. I am so allergic and its not my comfort zone,its          unknown). Thinking so in its mind yet it tweeted,  "Thanks.will surely do it."
Love Bird:"Take your time".
Fear Bird: "Okay". ( it opens Audacity to learn, all is Greek and Latin, cant even read English,                nothing goes inside mind , closes the s/w. Will do it tomorrow).
Love Bird: keeps quiet and it waits .
Fear Bird: I have to learn Audacity,  ( Oh no. not today, I have something important to do, may be  tomorrow  I will learn. and TOMORROW NEVER COMES).
Love Bird:It waits. It still has got hope. It did not judge. It could understand the issue. It still gives time.
Fear Bird: Its getting bigger now, as it could not learn and time is flying by.
Love Bird: After many months, it gives a small reminder very gently. " Hey I am waiting for your song" .
Fear Bird: Could not answer heads up, as its guilty. " Ya . I remember , I will do", said in a low voice.
Love Bird: After sometime, it reminds of accountability, keeping up the word in a different way.
Fear Bird: Can know within, it did not keep up the word. " Ya, I could not understand s/w", opened up to love bird.
Love Bird: Known for its untiring efforts, it gives more details, how to learn .
Fear Bird:"Thank u so much. Its very helpful , I will do it", its filled with love birds energy, it thought its easy can do it. But after sometime all the spirits drain out.
Love Bird: "Sure. Take your time".
and this saga goes on and on from one week to one month to one year and time flies by.
One day again ,
Love Bird:"I remembered u say I choose love, but YOU REALLY DID NOT CHOOSE LOVE".
Fear Bird:IT STRIKES and one last time it says " I will see you with the song".
There is a change here and this time its REAL. Fear bird makes a better choice.  The voice from within is heard. The mistakes or the attitude is shown and known.  It makes up its mind to keep up the word, realizes love bird's true love. It feels ashamed of itself for how it has reciprocated to love bird's love. Tears rolls down . But it has got hope as it really meant this time, when it uttered " I will see you with the song".
From fear, it was changed,now ITS LOVE at the other end also.
The moment , love was chosen, there was light, there was way, there was focus, the same Greek and Latin meant sense, it was understandable, there was fire. No reminder was needed. In spite of all the other busy daily schedules, it was more important. It could make time and do whatever it takes. What was not understandable for more than year was learnt in one hour.
And not to mention, when both the birds met, fear bird shared the song that was made with love for love, there was showers of love and both were immersed in love.
This incident is engraved as one of landmarks in their journey together.
                                                         ******************
And to tell you, it is one of my own fears, that I could overcome with the power of love, that I was showered with. The conversation was the battle happened in my mind, where both positivity and negativity had to face off each other and finally with patience, positivity won the battle.

Its learnt that, its not the efficiency that was missing, it was because of  the attitude, it was the habit of procrastinating, the domination of negativity.
Its a great learning that love is so powerful and it always wins with patience.

Love heals and makes us alive ,   Fear hurts and makes us numb
Love strengthens ,  Fear weakens
Love forgives , Fear accuses, condemns, blames
Love shows the way, Fear blocks the way
Love is selfless, Fear is selfish
Love bears pains, Fear does not bear and it gives back.
Love expands, Fear shrinks
Love motivates and inspires , Fear retards, dissuades
Love can reach from miles away irrespective of physical presence, Fear can disconnect despite  the physical presence.

To choose not to choose is still a choice for which you alone are responsible.” 

― Gary Cox, How to Be an Existentialist: or How to Get Real, Get a Grip and Stop Making Excuses

“I find the best way to love someone is not to change them, but instead, help them reveal the greatest version of themselves.”

― Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience.

Having experienced both love and fear, having seen both constructive and destructive energies, I choose to connect, reach, respect, support, honor and I CHOOSE LOVE .Its a constant reminder " to choose" from the choices available.

I choose to make myself better, gradually and keep walking on the path and reach YOU, Oh..
I dedicate this to YOU , Oh, who made me realize TRUE LOVE.

Transformation begins with..

It begins with a voice from within  " What am I/are you doing?". 

It begins with a desire to change.

It begins with observation.

It begins with courage to face and take up the challenge and face it.

It begins with determination to be dedicated , committed.

Secret ingredient of transformation - 1

When the intentions are not brought out in to actions,  nothing can really change in real. Intentions along with persistent efforts brings out actions and gets us closer to bring out the actual transformation. Saying is different and doing the said thing is different. Doing/putting efforts brings out the intentions and wishes out in real. We often fail to keep up the promises because of lack of commitment. It is the underlying factor TO TRUST AND NOT TRUST somebody, as the personality portrays the same traits lying inside.

"Are we committed?" is a  good reminder that contributes for self evaluation. 

Tale of Vikram - Betaal !

Recently, I came across a letter , that gave me a whole different perspective of  mind and its deep nature. It was interestingly woven with two characters Vikram - Betaal. When we hear the names we are reminded of Story from Indian mythology, where Vikram tries to win Betaal and fights with betaal by  answering to the questions,providing reasons that will quiet betaal and conquer him. Its the same process but this happens within us, in our mind.Below is that letter , which when read carefully paying attention, will simplify problems and answer many questions. We can easily identify the voices( both vikram and betaal), listen to their debates,witness the battle, within ourselves. What could be more interesting and thrilling than knowing about our own mind?Undoubtedly we will be surprised at our discoveries about ourselves. 

Hello Dear friend,

Greetings.

Welcome to the world of Vi-kram and Be-taal.

Let us understand these two above mentioned words.

Kram in hindi means " in an order, discipline or in a rhythm".

So a person who wins Kram ( jisne kram par vijay pa liye) is Vikram, an orderly person.

Now be - taal means a person who never walks in a line, order or rhythmic path. He always deviates from the path, asks questions, compels to give reasons to be on the path, change faces and appear in front of us in different forms and his typical nature is if we don't give answers or lie betaal, he would not only go back to his residing place but destroys order seriously.

But this person vikram has to win him, hence he keeps on trying - either persuade or logically win by providing evidences of logics. Betaal cant be killed forever, he is Amar.

So this is our mind our world, our conflicts, our judgements.

These two characters live in us, both appearing to be true, Therefore; that is the conflict.

Hence here onwards, we would be identifying both, who is who and let vikram win over betaal and set an order inwards.

let us understand this sloka of Srimad Bhagvad Gita :6:6

For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his very mind will be the greatest enemy.

This ensures us that we don't need an external enemy to destroy us , its in built always active, Ever Ready to deviate ( its prime tool ) and let us leave in no-man's- land .

Moral of above sloka: The mind is friend (vikram) the mind is enemy (betaal) , it all depends who has taken over the charge.

Learning :- 1) Don't Blame others for our failures, attitudes, behaviours,desires,etc nor suppress it or kill it , instead UNDERSTAND them slowly BY and BY. one day vikarm will win.

2) Don't put Blame on self for the failures, attitudes, behaviors, desires instead understand self by probing it, investigating it, honestly, and understand the whole comprehensive complex mind - Heart system, layer by layer.

The whole intention of this process is removal of unwanted material that has been stored and make the mind peaceful and always in a happy state irrespective of external consequences. Joy should prevail.

I would be taking help of sages, rishi, modern psychologists, humanist etc whoever has laid a route to understand this complex mind mechanics of which we are part in every day life.

This letter has provoked  thoughts to evaluate myself,  behaviors, habits, observe the voices within, has helped to begin the process of understanding the behavior of the mind. The essential qualities like discipline, will power, determination, faith, etc  are the foundations of walking on the path. Understanding of these above said words will help us to spot our deviations and fight back to be on the path . This is an ongoing battle between Vikram and Betaal.

Which way we prefer- The feel or The fact!!

Can we shut off from negative influences? Can we? Why not? If we understand the cause, yes, we can.

Negativity is an emotion that disturbs our peace of mind. Why it influences us? 
That can happen “Only if we pay attention towards It”. Why do we pay attention to it? Can we stay away from it? May be or it is happening because we trust negativity so much, we believe thus it is. Why we believe it so much? May be because it has memories of so many experiences, which we believed them always were true. Very much true , we hardly dare to see beyond our memories. How many of us really tried to think without memory, can we think without memory?

Cognitive Sense organs are the feeders. Does there any existence without these feeders? Another question is Do we use all the sense organs with same passion? Why we are so biased towards only some of our sense organs and least cared about others? Have we ever tired to be equally conscious towards each and every cognitive senses?
How we are just sensitive to ears(listening) and eyes(seeing), mouth( talking) or similarly to any other sense organ! How about other organs,legs or hands, etc? Say for ex: why cant we talk less and walk more?Don't you remember mouth fire word bullets and enjoy sensory gratification, rather to replying through actions? We hardly pay attention to our action but we are very happy keep saying things to self and others.
why are we sensitive(listening) to some people, though we don't like them or when we know it very well when they are not our well wishers?
why we keep on dumping files into memory the happenings and incidents and the data that we tend to use it for future squabbles or arguments. Don’t we enjoy the sensory gratification, are we really keen knowing the real problems of our life, but we continue to enjoy the dead memories that is neither useful nor serve our real purpose.
We like it or not sometimes we have to listen. But listening doesn't mean tracking them, following them.
Another interesting thing is the perception or blockage formed relationship, specially when the relationship is very close one and they are very dear to us. We have so many expectations and at the same time we have perceptive image based on our past experiences. The Imagery person who been perceived in the mind over takes the real person, and prevent us to view us from seeing the real person, or what is..

We always stay in what was or what would be., we love dead things more than Now the present , which is there which if seen, corresponded truly, will become live and lively.Right now!!!

But ,we don't go beyond the created imaginary person.There is no discovery about us or the person in relationship, no mutual understanding as we don't see the real person. Why do we get affected by such words, which has no meaning at all? It just acts a knock out of our emotions within us.We express everything out and then it calms down and this is on going in process,hence it shows a pattern of mind that releases the frustration, we are just venting out, that’s it, we hardly try to solve the real issues, then we put allegations on others, keep quiet!! till it touches the level of tolerance.

There is no connection with reality.We live in imaginary world mostly. Caught in action and reactions of mere just words, If we observe the the same words of someone whom we are not emotionally(imaginary person)attached don't affect us we just listen, words don’t sink into down.. We leave it then and there only. Once we disconnect ourselves from such imaginary person, we can see the whole relation in a new way. Life is not feelings.Feelings are part of life, which change with the situations

“ Sandeep Maheshwari, a motivational speaker” says If we are given two options to choose what would we prefer !!!
Ask ourselves!
1)We caught in a situation which is ugly,deeply hurting, painful, disgusting, but we knew the way is Absolutely correct to us and it is fruitful.
2) We are in a situation when we feel most comfortable, enthuastic easy, non painful, soothing, But simultaneously we know it very well that it will lead to painful results.
Which way we prefer/choose? The feel or the fact!!!
Most of us choose "better feel" not the better result isnt it?Inspite of the fact that feelings are temporary, they are influenced by environmental factors, they are not going to stay with us always,undulating, swrilling,yo-yoing swings; the life which we live, is different to that of emotions and feelings. We need to understand what is good and what is not, without getting carried away with emotions/feelings.

When we know the reality of understanding, we don't have to pay attention to the persons who are not well wishers and give importance to the voices and words that doesn't have any meaning at all. We don't have to allow them to influence us, that way we can shut ourselves off from negative influences.

Words play a very major role as they are the external medium that connects two persons. The words which we use with kids, should be used very carefully and thought about as they will make a deep impression in their minds, the writer herself is a victim of the words of childhood, paying the debts of memorial which has been accumulated in the mind , the whole wonderful Gallery is there!!

Through words we invite ourselves other people's individual egos to attack and bring ill luck to ourselves. And further it begins a battle and exchange of word fire and a cold war.
Should we invite or reject peoples individual ego with our words?, which act like seeds , its not for others it can act like seeds to our own minds too. So if we can change the words , if we plant good meaningful positive words, non attracting or attracting depending upon our own need we can control our own luck, allows us to sprout our own garden.
Basically its an art of communication which we need to learn from childhood, it comes when we understand our identity is beyond the mind. Beyond the senses, its in the HEART. When we indentify ourselves within the heart the music flows, we don’t require words. It connects, its there heart talks to heart, heart listen to heart in its own language.


Change begins within ourselves! Thus ended the discussion that began with the question "How to shut off from negative influences"

Sincere Thanks for the inputs and insights which has paved a way to  a deeper understanding of life aspects.

All these invaluable insights had been shared and having understood, I am in the process of learning:
* to see beyond the imaginary person, 
 *to learn the art of  communication, 
*to shut off from negative influences,
*to use words carefully with kids and 
*TO CHOOSE WHAT IS GOOD for my life.

 

Mind is a Garden!

Mind is a Garden! This is an understanding from a discussion about "How to shut off negative influences". This was so helpful to understand the mind plays.

Have we ever paid attention towards how our likes or dislikes formed?
Why are we sensitive to certain things and to others, insensitive?
how comfort zones and non comfort zones are created?
How we pay attention to petty issues and miss the most important things?
Who is to blame and what is the reason?
Let start the investigation by putting lots of such questions to ourselves. Understanding this process will help to take control of our mind , which will be at peace without distractions.

The whole mind is like a fertile land. In an unpurposeful land which has not been taken care for years, there are so many trees, shrubs, plants, etc. viz a wild thick forest area.
Some trees are small, some trees are big that bear fruits which fall over the same land and they sprout up again into big trees. It is impractical if we assume to have cleaned the land, just by cutting off a few shrubs and plants. We not only have to cut trees but uproot them completely to wipe out forever.
It is exactly the same process with our mind.The soil is mind where perceptions are trees which bear again fruits of experience and again form memory. Do we clean our mind as we maintain and clean our body parts? The mind is filled with habits, patterns and behaviors. When we work to get rid of some habits, sometime we are successful by WILL & determination, but, some may re appear in different form, some appears in same form after a long time and when we don't pay attention, many new unwanted habits we may acquire without our knowledge and finally again it becomes a thought and logic jungle.
It is just the behavior of mind to make new combinations every day, every minute and every second. What is the use of getting rid of one and acquiring a new combination?
All habits have deep roots firmly in to the soil of mind for many years and the whole mind is nourishing from the roots. We just look at the habits or the actions and try to work on them, which are just the leaves of the big tree. Plucking a few leaves, will not bring the tree down, when the tree nourishes from the ground in which its planted. That is the reason my new year resolution broke in January itself.

Well now, how we will proceed to clean and maintain our minds? The mind has to be understood as a whole and not in parts. We need to understand what is thought, emotions, anger, lust, greed, intellect, determination, all these attributes, which will increase awareness, and that is the key to reach the depths.
When there is a problem, there will always be a solution!.

To begin with 

* First is to Know our deep rooted mind, by staying calm and asking question why we are thinking like this. 
*Second is by observation of our core thinking which never changes. How it is formed and understanding the perception of holding those memories still in mind is the reason for attachment to particular memory. 
*Once we find that those past memories are no use for my Present or future living, we can leave them. We may feel bad to leave, but the path is correct, as we learned earlier the feeling and facts, with past memories we cant connect present, we are omitting present completely. The author herself have clung/is clinging towards memories, that’s reason unable to see the present moment. And people think the author is stupid, but the fact is author is clinging towards the thoughts which has completely hijacked the present, THE CONSCIOUS  FULLY ATTACHED TO MEMORY PREVENTS TO SEE PRESENT MOMENT. That’s why author notice people around her say often "open your eyes and fnd it".  But " where ? where? " shouts the author , like a lost kid in a carnival.

In human being, we have greatest a power God has given to Discover and APPLY them, God never stops us.